VIDEO: Father charged in Victoria Christmas Day killings

The father of two young girls found dead on Christmas Day is charged with their deaths.

Andrew Robert Douglas Berry, 43, faces two counts of second degree murder.

On Christmas Day, Chloe, 6, and Aubrey, 4, were in the care of their father at his apartment on the corner of Beach Drive and Goodwin Street. The children were supposed to go home to their mother’s house on Christmas afternoon but didn’t arrive. Their mother Sarah Cotton contacted the Oak Bay police, who responded to Berry’s apartment where the bodies of the two girls were found.

Berry was taken to hospital with injuries Christmas Day, and arrested once released from hospital.

The Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit continues to investigate the double homicide and aren’t releasing any other information as the matter is before the courts.

“From the moment the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit arrived, they have been compassionate, professional, and diligent,” said Ray Bernoties, deputy chief of the Oak Bay Police Department. “We’ve been engaged with them throughout this investigation and we’re very grateful for their tireless effort.”

The sisters; mother Sarah Cotton has requested privacy asking close friend Trisha Lees to act as spokesperson for the family.

Cotton is well-known in the community, having worked in communications at Tartan Group, BC Pension Corporation and BC Ferries – where she met Andrew Berry, the father of the two girls.

“She is very social and well-liked. Her girls were very much like her,” said Lees. “They were lively, energetic, and silly girls.”

Cotton and Berry separated in in September 2013 and shared custody of the two girls. In a May 2017 judgement, the judge decided that the two parents would share custody, although it was decided that Cotton would be allotted more time with the girls.